


The Ageless Thaw of Winter

by shadowsapiens



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canadian Shack, Dream Sharing, F/F, First Kiss, Not Actually Canada, Podfic Available, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28223205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowsapiens/pseuds/shadowsapiens
Summary: Andy promises the bad dreams will get better, and Nile is too distracted to tell her how dumb that sounds.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Nile Freeman
Comments: 16
Kudos: 48
Collections: Mistletoe Exchange 2020





	The Ageless Thaw of Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glorious_spoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_spoon/gifts).



> Happy Mistletoe :D

Andy tells her the dreams will get easier. They’ll become less frequent, less vivid. “Except when there’s a new kid,” Nicky says. 

“Or a disaster,” Joe adds.

“Or—”

“Shut up, both of you,” Andy says, squeezing Nile’s shoulder, and Nile barely hears the rest of it, with the way Andy’s calluses scrape through her t-shirt. Andy promises the bad dreams will get better, and Nile is too distracted to tell her how dumb that sounds.

x

Nile dreams of snow piling around her, spilling onto her bare feet. Her skin numbs, until the only pain is the ache in her bones, as the snow piles higher, pinning her by the knees. She has to walk forward, but the sky is a slurry of white and gray, bare branches lashing her face, and she doesn’t know where forward is.

x

They have to lay low after London. “Until we’re needed,” Andy answers when Nile asks. Nicky and Joe go somewhere, and Nile and Andy go somewhere else. Nile expected a secret hideout, maybe an abandoned castle, maybe something underground. Ancient and dusty with memories. Instead, it’s a tiny snowed-in cabin in Colorado, like they’re on a ski trip. They could walk to the slopes, though they don’t.

The decor is cozy tourist, and the kitchen is filled with red and green patterned dishware and painted pinecone arrangements. Nile sips a vodka coke from a mug with a snowman on it. “Have you been here before?” 

Andy leans back in her chair. “I wanted someplace new.” 

“Someplace Booker doesn’t know about?” 

Andy doesn’t answer for a while, and Nile thinks maybe she shouldn’t have brought up Booker. It’s hard to know how raw the bruises are, when Andy never shows pain the way Nile expects. Maybe that’s why Andy split off with her. Nile can’t read her like Nicky and Joe could. 

But Andy says, “I wasn’t thinking about Booker,” and for some reason, Nile feels warmer.

x

Nile dreams of a bright, empty sky and plain dirt beneath her feet. Dust cakes against her neck, and someone’s yelling too loudly to hear. The sky is empty but the world rushes with people, shouts. There’s a sword in her hand. She looks down and it’s a gun, and her arms are covered in camouflage. She looks again and sees dented steel bracers and rough leather.

She looks and sees blood staining her combat boots, blood staining her sandals. She changes every moment, but the blood is the same, and the empty sky.

x

She’s on her twenty-eighth pushup when she realizes Andy’s watching. Twenty-nine. Thirty. Finishes the set and sits back on her heels. “Need something?”

Andy leans in the doorway, looking like a statue in faded sweatpants and a threadbare tanktop. She says, “You look like shit.” 

“Thanks.” Nile rolls her eyes. “Really appreciate it.” There’s a Santa mug of water on the floor next to her, and she downs half of it. 

Andy doesn’t move from the doorway. “You worked out this morning already, and you woke up an hour earlier than usual.” When Nile stares at her, she shrugs. “We pay attention to each other. It’s what we do.” 

She means all of them. All their weird little immortal family. But here in the cabin, it’s just Andy and Nile. It feels special, and Nile tries not to dwell too hard on that. She just sets the Santa mug aside and lies back on the floor. “I’ve been dreaming too much,” she says. “Hold my ankles?”

She stares at the rustic ceiling beams with her arms crossed over her chest. There’s a long pause before Andy moves, almost silent. She kneels at Nile’s feet and grabs her ankles. Her palms press against Nile’s socks, and only the barest sliver of her skin touches Nile’s. The hint of contact buzzes through Nile’s veins. 

She starts the set of sit-ups as Andy holds her steady.

x

Nile dreams of heat and shadow, firelight dancing at the edges of her awareness. Rough cotton and smooth skin, lips against her jaw, her neck. She dreams of scars and a pulse, strong and quick beneath her palms, and she dreams she feels alive again for the first time in a lifetime.

She opens her eyes and sees dark, sweat-slick skin, familiar eyes lidded in unfamiliar passion. She sees herself, arching beneath her, and in the shock of recognition, she wakes up.

x

There’s a late winter storm outside and a crackling fire within when Nile asks, “Have you ever been lost in the snow?”

Andy takes another bite of chow mein. Chews for-fucking-ever, then swallows. “Maybe a few times. Why?” 

They’re sitting on the floor to eat because the table’s covered in papers, maps, laptops, ammunition. There’s a situation in Utah that Andy thinks might be worth a road trip. Might. The uncertainty is like a splinter under Nile’s skin. They’ve been here for three months, and it feels like forever. She wants to break out and travel somewhere that isn’t the grocery store down the mountain.

She looks at Andy, a goddess wielding plastic chopsticks, and she wants to stay. She says, “I’ve been dreaming.”

Andy keeps eating, but her attention is newly focused on Nile. We pay attention to each other, Andy said, and it’s both terrifying and comforting to be seen like this. A question hums in the air, quieter than the snap of kindling and flame in the fireplace, and doesn’t need words. 

“I dream that I’m you,” Nile says. “Only, it’s stuff that hasn’t happened.” 

“How do you know?” Andy asks. Then, almost imperceptibly, her eyes widen. She turns back to her chow mein and if she were anyone else, Nile might have thought she looked embarrassed. It’s shockingly, charmingly human. 

“Maybe it’s just dreams.” Nile sets her own chopsticks aside and grabs the snowman mug. Sips as she watches Andy. Maybe the dreams never happened, or maybe they haven’t happened yet.

x

They’re leaving tomorrow, and Nile doesn’t want to dream. She builds up the fire, taking strength from the physical task, the rough wood against her hands, the smooth iron, the heat against her face. Still staring at the fire, she asks, “Have you ever been on a perfect date?”

The cabin is small. She doesn’t know where Andy is, but she knows she’s close. Sure enough, Andy answers from right behind her. “Hundreds.” The bittersweet laugh is perfectly Andy. “A lot fewer second dates, though.” 

Nile sets the poker against the wall. “I’ve only been on one,” she says. “But it lasted three months.” 

Andy laughs again, a lot closer this time. Nile could get high off the sound. “You have terrible taste in women, Nile.” There’s a hand on her hip, spinning her around. Nile doesn’t have time to talk back before Andy seals her lips in a kiss.

Andy was right after all. The dreams are getting better and better.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic of] The Ageless Thaw of Winter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28440228) by [Flowerparrish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerparrish/pseuds/Flowerparrish)




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